40 Watts from Nowhere

Frustrated by what she was hearing on commercial radio, Sue Carpenter built a 40-watt FM station in 1995 and ran it out of her apartment in Los Angeles, exploiting a legal case that allowed hundreds of low-power illegal radio operators to proliferate throughout the country and gave birth to the legal LPFM movement. Carpenter was 28 years old, a secretary and an aspiring journalist when she first set up KBLT and invited strangers into her house to spin whatever the hell they wanted. It soon took on a life of its own, drawing Mazzy Star to headline a benefit concert and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to play live in her living room.